JGLM

Mind Renewal: Essential NOT Optional

In this edition of the Mind Renewal Newsletter, I will show you why mind renewal is essential and the amazing way God created our mind/brain to function.

So let’s get started:

1) God commands us to renew our mind.

Rom 12:1-2

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. KJV

In the first verse above several things stand out.

A) Paul, by the Spirit of God urges believers to present their (physical) bodies to God as a living sacrifice.

B) Since they are urged to do it and not ask God to do it for them, it shows us that it is something we must do.

C) These “sacrifices” are to be living (not dead or physically abused, as in trying to pay penance).

D) These “sacrifices” are to be holy, which means they are to be set apart for God’s use and not for sinful use.

E) These holy, living “sacrifices” will be acceptable to God.

F) If our bodies are presented to God in the prescribed manner, they will be acceptable and that everything demanded here by God is “reasonable” and not unreasonable or extreme.

In the second verse is where we find some amazing promises.

A) First we are commanded NOT to be conformed (squeezed into a shape or mold) by this world. We are to be a light in and to the world, not become shaped by it.

B) We are commanded to be transformed (metamorphosis) BY the renewing of our mind. (Notice that this is THE ONLY verse in Scripture that tells us HOW our lives can be completely changed.)

C) We are told that the ONLY way we can prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God, is by renewing our minds. Notice that there are not three different degrees of the will of God. There is one will of God and it is good, acceptable and perfect.

Here we see the truths that have eluded so many.

Your life is not “transformed” by the laying on of someone’s hands. It is not transformed by receiving a “blessing” or even an “impartation”. Your life is ONLY transformed (changed) by you renewing your mind.

The reason we have had so many well-meaning people get born again and yet years later are still struggling with the same problems they had before they got born again. It is because they never renewed their minds. I cannot overemphasize this point.

If you want a different life, you must have your mind renewed to think in alignment with the Word of God (The Bible).

Another point listed here, but often missed is that before you can have your mind renewed, you must present your body as a living sacrifice.

What this means is that your mind will not become renewed if you do not put physical corresponding action into play.

The idea is that your body has been trained to act a certain way. That certain way is both ingrained in your neuro system and it is reinforced into your neuro system every time to do that certain action. It is actually a closed circuit.

You think a certain way and your body acts in alignment with the thought.

Every time you do the action it reinforces the thought in your neuro system.

Over a short while, the action and the thought become one and you have formed a habit.

This pattern is also the way you renew your mind.

If you purposely cause your body to do a certain thing a certain way, in a short time you will have trained it to do that action. When you are purposely causing your body to do a certain thing, you must also first think of the thing you want it to do, so you are in effect renewing your mind to the action every time you think about your body doing the action.

Since we are a three-fold entity: spirit, soul and body, the sooner and more often you can cause all three to work together to accomplish an action, the sooner that action will become a habit which means you have thought about it until you don’t have to think about for you to do it.

That means that you have also trained your mind or “renewed” your mind to work in alignment with the desired action.

When you have trained your mind and body to function in a negative way it is called a “stronghold”, but when you have trained your mind and body to do the Word of God it is called a renewed mind or obedience from the heart.

God created our brains to work in a certain manner.

For years it was believed that we were born with only so many brain cells called neurons. Now scientists have found out that it isn’t true. As a matter of fact, each night as you sleep, new neurons are created. Again, for years, scientists thought that our brains were “wired” so to speak to function in a certain way and that they couldn’t be changed or “re-wired”. But scientists have discovered something called neuro-plasticity.

Neuro-plasticity simply means that the brain has a “plastic” (moldable) quality. This means that we can re-wire our brain to think in different ways.

To re-wire your brain, you simply must think about the thing you want to re-wire your brain to think like. Once you decide how you want to think about something, you simply begin to focus and concentrate on the thing and the way you want it to be.

This has been called “setting your thermostat”.

This is exactly like setting the thermostat in your house. If your house is too cold and you want it warm, you don’t set your thermostat at the temperature your house currently is, you set it on the temperature you want your house to rise to.

To renew your mind in a particular area, you don’t think about things the way they are. You begin to change your thinking, and you think about things the way you know they should be.

Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. KJV

Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. KJV

Both of these verses tell us what to think on.

The first verse, tells us specifically what to think on and what not to think on.

What are you doing if you do what these verses say?

You are setting your thermostat.

The thermostat is what you set your mind with and the thermostat temperature arm is like your tongue. You set it where you want the temperature to go.

So you must first decide to use your body (including your tongue) for holy use not unholy use and you must decide to think on things you have not been thinking on.

This takes discipline and practice.

You can’t have the air conditioner on in one room and the heater on in another.

You must have consistency throughout. If you don’t it will take much longer to renew the mind.